Date: Fri, 10 Feb 1995 07:11:09 -0500 (EST) From: David Casti Subject: ACTION ALERT: Homophobe Day At The NY Post Scalped from: soc.motss Submitted by: leliorisen@aol.com (LelioRisen) Hi Folks, It is no surprise that the NY Post regularly prints editorials and articles that are anti-gay in tone and rhetoric. However, even for the Post, Monday (February 6) was a very bad day. I want to print excerpts from the offending articles and then encourage you to respond. For starters, John Podhoretz' TV review of "Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story" (page 69). Under the heading, "One 'Serving' is too much (Preachy 'Silence' isn't golden)", we are treated to the following: "Ok, boys and girls, time for a lecture on tolerance and gay rights from our national schoolmarms, Barbra Streisand and Glenn Close." He goes on, "...gays have been suffering for thousands of years, so surely you can suffer a few hours of boredom and condescension to learn to be nice to them." After admitting that a TV review is no place to discuss gays in the military (he patronizingly adds that, neither is a TV movie), he complains that the argument against gays in the military is not made in the movie. He then singles out a scene at the end where certain celebrated gay people are discussed and then adds, referring to famous gays, "so was Jeffrey Dahmer. But you wouldn't expect me to condemn all homosexuals because Jeffrewy Dahmer was gay. Why then should I support gay rights because Michaelangelo had the hots for the boy who was the model for David?" He then adds, "You know what else? Barbra Streisand is Jewish and she makes me quiter literally ill. Does that mean I should consider becoming an anti-Semite?" The truly amazing thing is that he still gave the TV movie 2 stars! Elsewhere in that days paper in the column, Post Insight, Opinion & Views (page 19), by the esteemed L. Brent Bozell the 3d, we are treated to more cries of gay propoganda in the movie. In the full page column by Bozell, chairman of the Media Research Center (whatever that is), writes that silence is "a slick piece of pro-homosexual propoganda". In complaining about not portraying his own point of view he says "Of course there are plenty of good reasons why open gays and lesbians should be excluded -- but "Serving" asserts that only bigots would want to keep Grethe Cammermeyer out of the Army." Bozell, along with Podhoretz, complains that the movie "articulates no respectable , legitimate arguments for the ban". 'Scuse me Mr. Bozell, I did not know there were any. The most offensive and revealing part of the column comes at the end, with the following: "most of the real world considers the homosexual lifestyle repugnant and appalling -- not 'interesting'. The homosexual lifestyle is immoral, which places us in opposition to Streisand, Close and the message of 'Serving in Silence'." Lovely sentiment, eh? The final assault comes from the political Inside Albany column by Fredric Docker, on page 17. Under the headline "Bruno: Gay Lovers Off Health Plan", we are treated to a sympathetic explanation about why the Senate majority leader won't subsidize the "abnormal lifestyle" of homosexuals. The vast majority of the article let's Bruno state how he is merely trying to save taxpayers money. He quotes Bruno's assertion the gays "chose their own lifestyles" and should pay for it. Docker allows only one brief opposing comment by the Senate minority leader Martin Connor, who acknowledges that he has at least 4 or 5 gays on his staff and complains that the "radical right is taking over the state." But then he immediately follows it up with Bruno's trashing of Connor as an "extreme liberal." Shuddering yet? If you would like to put in your 2 cents and tell the Post what you think (and these are just the tip of the homophobic Post iceberg), you can call 212-815-8000. I was given no fax number, but was told I could write to the Editor at 210 South St., NY, NY 10002. Let's do it. Scott